Wild Olive Trees Extent in Al-Baha Region, Saudi Arabia According to Trees’ Age, Health, and Clustering Status
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Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321 – 0893) Volume 9 – Issue 1, February 2021 Wild Olive Trees Extent in Al-Baha Region, Saudi Arabia According to Trees’ Age, Health, and Clustering Status Abdullah Saleh Al-Ghamdi Department of Biology, College of Sciences Al-Baha University Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Email: abdullah.saleh.alghamdi [AT] gmail.com _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT--- This study provided detailed information on the attributes of wild olive species in the Al- Baha region, Saudi Arabia. The study area lay along the Sarah mountain, encompassing the districts of Al-Qura, Al-Mandaq, Al- Baha and the southern part of Baljurashi. This indicates the preference of wild olive for high foggy mountain conditions, which was pre-determined by the study to be a medium-high vegetation density zone. Information extracted from high resolution satellite imagery Pleaides revealed that there are 717,894 wild olive trees (360 trees per km2) in the study area, covering 1,991 km2 .The districts of Al-Mandaq and Al-Baha have higher wild olive density with younger and highly clustered trees, whereas Al-Qura and Baljurashi districts have lower wild olive density, with medium clustered older trees. The districts of Al-Aqiq, Qelwa and Mekhwa have the least density of wild olive with younger trees and light clustering. Clustering behavior was enumerated directly at the sampling plots and the results depicted that the majority of wild olives occur in clusters with mostly 5-10 trees per cluster. The olive tree is found naturally in Al-Baha and can reportedly maintain its populations in natural old growth forests for several hundred years. This study identified the age of wild olive trees in the study area. The results indicated that there were more (68%) of young age class (<50 years old) of wild olive trees, whereas Baljurashi showed the highest percentage of old age class (>150 years). The majority (88.6%) of the wild olive trees were healthy, while more unhealthy trees were observed in Al-Mandaq and Al-Baha districts. As observed during the groundwork, unhealthy trees particularly due to dieback, were more discerned with juniper affecting vegetation in Al-Mandaq and South Baha, with 45% and 18% respectively. Similarly, this study recorded trace of unhealthy vegetation, with 11.4% of the wild olive trees in an unhealthy condition. This information would be essential in ‘Identifying the Landscape Preference of Wild Olive in Al-Baha Region Saudi Arabia’. Keywords --- Wild olive tree, Extent, Al-Baha region, Saudi Arabia, tree clustering, tree age, tree health. _________________________________________________________________________________ 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Wild Olive Tree Olea oleaster, the wild-olive, has been considered by various botanists as a valid species and a sub-species of the cultivated olive tree, Olea europea, which has multiple origins (Besnard, and Berville, 2000) and was domesticated, it now appears, at various places during the fourth and third millennia BCE, in selections drawn from varying local populations (Besnard, and Baradat, 2001). Today, as a result of natural hybridization, very ancient domestication and extensive cultivation of the olive throughout the Mediterranean Basin, wild-looking feral forms of olive, called "oleasters", constitute a complex of populations, ranging from feral forms to the wild olive. (Lumaret, Ouazzani, Michaud, and Vivie,2004). The wild olive is a tree of the maquis shrubland, in part the result of the long human presence. The drought- tolerant sclerophyllous wild olive tree is believed to have originated in the Mediterranean Basin. It still provides the hardy and disease-resistant rootstock, on which cultivated olive varieties are grafted (Breton, et al., 2006). The wild olive is also reported to be native to the North American evergreen tree, which reaches a 20-foot height with a10-to15 foot spread. This tree is very rarely found and is even reportedly close to extinction. The olive-like white fruits that are produced have a sweet flesh relished by birds and other wildlife and, although edible for humans, should not be eaten in quantities. However, in the United States of America, another olive species known as the Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia L.) was considered an exotic invasive weed. This thorny shrub or tree originated from South-eastern Europe and Western Asia, as reported by Katz and Shafroth (2003) as intentionally introduced and planted in the United States for windbreaks, erosion control, wildlife habitat, and other horticultural purposes. This tree was then observed to be very Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com) 1 Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321 – 0893) Volume 9 – Issue 1, February 2021 well adapted to semi-arid and saline environments. Early in the 20th century, Russian olive cultivation spread, particularly into the large moist riparian environments in arid or semi-arid regions of the western United States (Stannard et al, 2002). 1.2 Study Area The most effective way to map plant-species ranges in an area is by demarcating a general bioclimatic envelope within biogeographic regions, in which a species is known to have been found. This study requires building a database of species that includes data on the distribution of the species by geographic region, major habitat type, and elevation range (Price, 2004). Similarly, in this study, due to the large area involved and to save time, cost and energy, the study selected only areas with a high probability of wild olive tree presence, indicated by high (62km2) and medium (766 km2) density vegetated area. However, there is also a possibility of the wild olive tree being found at nearby lower vegetation density area. Hence, the study area was expanded to the northern part low vegetation canopy density, but not to the southern part, because the southern part of Al-Mekhwah and Qelwa has a steep slope towards Tehama. This brought the overall study area to 1,991km2 (Figure 1), which is just 18.0% of the whole Al-Baha region. The study area covers almost all areas of A-Mandaq and Al-Baha districts, with 58.5% of the study area having low Vegetation Crown Density (Al- Ghamdi, 2020)study Area (in red). Figure 1: Study Area Table 1: Study area extent according to districts District Vegetation Canopy Density Study Area 2 2 Name KM High (%) Med. (%) Low (%) KM (%) Al-Qura 1,049 9 1.5 128 21.8 449 76.6 586 55.9 Al-Aqiq 3,667 0 0.0 21 12.7 144 87.3 165 4.5 Al-Mandaq 361 23 6.8 247 72.9 69 20.4 339 94 Al-Mekhwa 1,949 3 11.1 24 88.9 0 0.0 27 1.4 Al-Baha 298 17 5.9 106 36.9 164 57.1 287 96.4 Baljurashi 1,505 7 1.4 162 32.0 337 66.6 506 33.6 Qelwa 2,232 3 3.7 78 96.3 0 0.0 81 3.6 TOTAL 11,060 62 3.1 766 38.5 1,163 58.4 1,991 18 Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com) 2 Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321 – 0893) Volume 9 – Issue 1, February 2021 1.3 Objectives The primary aim of this study is to identify wild olive attributes to support a wide variety of resource assessment, management, and conservation. This study can be a guide for a standard national vegetation classification scheme and mapping protocols that will facilitate effective resource management, by ensuring compatibility and widespread use of the information at multiple geographic scales throughout Al-Baha federal and provincial agencies. This wild olive inventory study involves field collection to classify the species pre-determined to be of medium-high vegetation density across the Al-Baha region. To better understand the status and to support researchers and decision makers to develop strategies and remedies, it is necessary to obtain accurate spatial information on the progression of this species. The purpose of this project is to acquire information regarding the wild olive tree locations and attributes in the Al-Baha region. 2. MATERIAL AND METHOD 2.1 Ground Sample Collection. Ground sample collection activity is required to acquire several locations of the wild olive tree at various district sites to be the ‘training samples’ for supervised classification. These locations were marked as wild olive tree coordinates on the image and the spectral signature or digital number were recognised as a guide to search and demarcate other similar reflectance characteristics. In this study, about 30 points of wild olive tree were to run supervised classification. 2.2 Forest Inventory Design. In this study, wild olive inventory was based on ground inventory sampling plot. A certain number of plots statistically representing the whole area were randomly selected at site and 100 % measurement taken within the plot. The inventory process comprises designing the inventory, designing the forms for collecting the information, dividing the forest area into seven districts, describing the tree cover of each site, measuring all the trees and shrubs in each sampling plot and analyzing the information obtained. 2.3 Accuracy Assessment. Accuracy assessment is the comparison of a classification with ground truth data, to evaluate how well the classification represents the real world. The steps involved in accuracy assessment include determining the number of samplings, determining confidence building assessment and sampling design. In this project, the number of sampling units follows the method of Krejcie and Morgan (1970), with plots selected based on Random Sampling technique. 2.4 Determining the Number of Sampling Units Required for the Inventory. The sample size of any study must be determined during the designing stage of the study. However, before determining the size of the sample to be drawn from the population, a few factors must be considered.